Interview with Cliff Eberhardt

Musician Cliff Eberhardt will bring his blues-tinged songs of the "human condition" to West Milford’s Music at the Mission on Saturday, Feb. 15.

A Red House Recording artist, Eberhardt knew by the age of 7 that he wanted to be a singer and songwriter. As a child, he taught himself to play guitar, piano, bass and drums. At age 15, Eberhardt and his brother, Geoff, began touring as an acoustic duo, playing the Eastern club circuit.

A few years later, he moved to New York City, where he performed, did studio work and played guitar on the road for Richie Havens and others. He also got an agent and "hooked up with a jingle house," where he sang on TV commercials for Coke, Miller Beer, McDonald’s and Chevrolet (Heartbeat of America).

Growing up close to the Main Point folk club on the East Coast, Eberhardt listened to and was influenced by the acoustic sounds of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Muddy Waters and Bonnie Raitt, among others.

He also found inspiration in the pop standards of Cole Porter, the Gershwins and Rodgers and Hart, which would explain his penchant for melody and lyrical twists.

"I am a singer/songwriter whose music has a blue twinge to it and even some pop music," says Eberhardt. "My heart has been broken too many times and I tend to write and sing about the human condition, how we treat each other and the morality of life."

Eberhardt has released nine albums in his 24-year career to date and says that the music of the 1930s and 1940s is probably his favorite because the chord progressions were very difficult and musical back then.

"It has increased my musical vocabulary every time I learn one of those songs," he says.

A full-time recording artist, Eberhardt tours constantly and his musical catalog is diverse. His last album, "Shrew Songs," features original music he wrote for "Taming of the Shrew," which ran at the Folger Shakespeare Library Theatre in Washington, D.C., a production he also performed and sang in.

He has also put out the albums "All Wood and Doors," an acoustic guitar album of 12 classic Doors songs, and "500 Miles," a collection of original and cover music that is flavored by the sounds of Texas-American blues and roadhouse ballads.

For his return to Music at the Mission, Eberhardt will perform his original songs, as well as "a cover or two from the Tin Pan Alley era," he says.

"I like to tell funny stories that relate to the songs I sing and will take requests of my songs to perform," he says. "Since most of my songs deal with relationships, it is appropriate that I am playing on Valentine’s Day weekend."

Tickets for Eberhardt’s show at Music at the Mission are a $22 in advance or $25 at the door. Tickets are available at musicatthemission.org or at the Harvest Moon Health Food Store, 22 Marshall Hill Road.